A day after the acting government in Kiev announced the Geneva agreement is void and that it would once again send special forces to deal with “terrorists” in east Ukraine, it had made good on its promise and over the past few hours, Ukrainian tanks, APCs and other special forces troops took control of a checkpoint north of Slavyansk on Thursday, following what numerous reports confirm was an exchange of gunfire.
What happened next is not exactly clear. Reuters reports that “when the armoured unit approached along a road from Sviatogorsk, which Ukraine’s government said it recaptured on Wednesday, militants set up a smokescreen of burning tyres. Within half an hour, the Ukrainian force was in control of the position near the village of Khrestyshche. No shots were heard.”
Reuters continues:
Ukrainian forces appear to be closing in around Slaviansk, a city of 130,000 which has become a military stronghold for the pro-Russian movement and is entirely controlled by separatist fighters.
Reuters journalists saw Ukrainian troops digging in outside the city on the main road south to the regional capital Donetsk.
Earlier in the morning, a spokeswoman for the separatist authorities in Slaviansk, Stella Khorosheva, said on Facebook that two people were killed at a checkpoint overnight.
Local online news site slavgorod.com.ua quoted other separatist representatives saying one man was dead and another seriously wounded after a group of local militia fighters from a checkpoint went to engage a group of “armed men” between Slaviansk and Sviatogorsk and were then fired on from a wood.
The Ukrainian government said troops repelled an overnight raid on a base at Artemivsk, to the south of Slaviansk on the road to Donetsk. A soldier was wounded in the attack by about 70 people who Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Facebook were led by Russian soldiers.
This conflicts somewhat with reports from both AFP and RT of a far more serious escalation including shooting at the Slavyansk checkpoint, and that according to @GazetaRu at least six people have been killed so far. Just out from RT:
Fighting has reportedly erupted just outside Slavyansk. Shootout has started between members of the Slavyansk self-defense and unknown gunmen, anti-government activists say.
“Around 40 minutes ago fighting started on the outskirts of Slavyansk,” one of the leaders of self-defense forces, Miroslav Rudenko , told Interfax. We are checking reports of one dead and one injured. There are shootings at a number of checkpoints at some of Slavyansk exit-roads.”
A video of the events:
And here is the latest reports on the ground:
Seems the Ukrainian anti-terror operation in Slavyansk is under way. Fights reported on outskirts of the town
— Olaf Koens (@obk) April 24, 2014
Locals report at least six dead, but no confirmation @GazetaRu writes. Fights occur at two road blocks around Slavyansk
— Olaf Koens (@obk) April 24, 2014
Ukrainian forces near the entrance of Slavyansk, single shots fired. Via Piotr Andrusieczko https://t.co/HKb6EHawd7 http://ift.tt/1jT9Qf0
— Olaf Koens (@obk) April 24, 2014
RT @mikewhills
Ukrainian troops pictured on the outskirts of Sloviansk (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP) http://ift.tt/1hnBrqp— Alexander Marquardt (@MarquardtA) April 24, 2014
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— ?????????? (@anti_maydan) April 24, 2014
PHOTO: Ukraine army chopper buzzes Artemovsk, 40km south of #Slavyansk “anti-terror” op scene http://t.co/DW9TMtgUDl http://ift.tt/1hnBpPl
— RT (@RT_com) April 24, 2014
But perhaps most concerning is the so far unconfrimed report that Russian support is on its way:
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— ??????????-LIVE (@NovorossiyaLive) April 24, 2014
We will update if the situation escalates furtger
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1hnBse2 Tyler Durden